Is that rain cloud in the distance?

CSA success based on the commitment of our shareholders

The first 3 weeks of the 2011 Schoolhouse Farms CSA are in the done column. Now the done column for SHF is more then just a simple check mark. We truly pride ourselves on our product and regardless the stress, strain and difficulty of the season what we deliver is not just from the field but our soul. This particular season has been more then a touch rocky as anyone who has lived and breathed our Borodino spring can attest for. The whole growing season has been a challenge beginning with the prolonged cold and monsoonal wet. ( A fact alone a bit tough to swallow or actually keep in the forefront as we have now faded forward into arguably one of the best  quintessential old time summers.) Now the heat and dry have taken us 180 degrees in the other direction with plants begging for some water.

Basil loving life

Our CSA shareholders  will continue to be the key to our ability to keeping alive small farming, once the backbone of this nation and as far as we can tell what may become the salvation for the feeding of an ever increasing global population. Our shareholders devotion to keeping the local farmer viable make it all happen, They are the seed money to keep it alive and they help mitigate our risks as we grow and experiment and do so without pressure for huge profits. 

Efficiency diversity and flexibility

We learned some major lessons during these economically challenging times, simple lessons like you need to know how to make lemonade out of lemons or jam from quince or how to can or freeze items you harvest. We haven’t mastered any of these time tested art forms, but we are getting better. We have learned that flexibility and the ability to re-seed and re-plant are critical and the quicker we react the better our chances of recovery are.

Peas like it cool and damp not wet and cold and when it was time to call it quits on a crop the tiller needs to take charge. As much as we love our peas sometimes you need to say good byes much earlier then you might want to. We hung on too long to the crop this season and although they tasted fine the yield to harvest ratio was in the toilet! The harvest based on our plantings should have resulted in bushels not just a few quarts. Dreams of a sweet pea festival were dashed at the spike of 95 degrees and should have been put to rest, but our ever optimistic outlook was not willing to entertain reality! A good lesson learned and a small dividend for our shareholders.

80 plus degrees and grooving

“Summer time and the living is easy”! Lighting bugs are evident nightly as are the croaking of the frogs, the chirps of the crickets, the laughter of the children, the crackle of a fire, the snap of an errand fire cracker. The moon appears as a slice or a whole big pie and the air is fragment with berry and hay.  Ooh Aah! Does it? Can it get any better? Life is the sweetest at this point. However a price is exacted for all the perfection the abundant sun and warmth and dry conditions bring, but it is gladly paid.

Time to water and water and water some more!!!!!!!! Is that a rain cloud in the distance?